The 2and La Maestra competition, at the Philharmonie de Paris, reserved for conductors, dedicated Sunday the Polish Anna Sułkowska-Migoń. The 26-year-old musician dominated the semi-final and the final with her intelligence and sensitivity.
Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, 26, is the new name to remember in the expanding galaxy of female conductors. The Polish woman won the Parisian directing competition by interpreting in the final The existence of the possible by Graciane Finzi, and the Suite by Pulcinella, by Stravinsky. Beatriz Fernández Aucejo, 38, Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, 26, and Joanna Natalia Slusarczyk, 36, were the finalists chosen by the jury chaired by Deborah Borda, director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Slusarczyk finished second and Fernández Aucejo third.
five names
First lesson of this second edition of La Maestra: excellence in level. From the second evening of the quarter-finals, Friday, we heard from at least four candidates of a level equivalent to or higher than that of the 2020 winners.
The excellent Paris Mozart Orchestra (it can’t be invented!) and the Philharmonie de Paris have succeeded in convincing people of the relevance of the initiative. In practice, positive discrimination avoids any bias. We will not put the qualification of so and so in the name of parity or some parasitic consideration.
That said, a leadership contest is a strange and indecipherable thing. This appeared to us when we were interested in the Malko 2021 competition, during which the excellent adopted Quebecer Andrei Feher had been ejected in the first round in favor of competitors who, obviously, were unfolding a “repetition scenario” pre-learned, regardless of what was happening on stage. The La Maestra competition was spared by these simulacra, but it is nonetheless relevant to decipher such a competition in depth, even in its eliminations from the first round, notably, here, the Frenchwoman Mélisse Brunet, the last candidate to pass on Friday , who energized an exhausted orchestra and interpretively reread the 2and Symphony of Louise Farrenc as a person.
There can certainly not be room for everyone, but the victims of the semi-final are the German Ustina Dubitsky and the Greek Zoe Zeniodi, two very directive profiles. Brunet, Dubitsky, Zeinoidi, Sułkowska-Migoń and Slusarczyk are the five names to remember from this edition.
Criteria
The total mystery surrounds the advance of Beatriz Fernández Aucejo, who, from “The Ball” of the fantastic symphony in quarters, has shown its limits. The jury, it seems, considered that her choreographic gesture as a choirmaster did not limit her to Requiem by Duruflé in the version with organ and that his tap-dancing sounds didn’t bother anyone.
the Concerto by Ravel of this candidate, by far the least characterized of the three in the semi-finals, raises the crucial question of the weight of interpretation, and therefore of musical visions in the judgment of a competition.
Having tested various places in the room, we have seen that the perception of the interpretive impact is clearly reduced on stage. It would therefore be clever to position part of the jury on stage (as it is) and another part indoors (why not with a monitor). This would prevent a majority of the jury from forgetting to realize that Brunet and Dubitsky (a German of Ukrainian origin whose grandmother lives in Montreal) make music in a determined and very relevant way. It would be a shame if conducting competitions were screenings for professional technicians instead of revealing meaningful musicians. Dubitsky received a special award from the orchestra.
Outside of all codes, Anna Sułkowska-Migoń imposed the logic of her talent. His first contact with the orchestra in the overture to Don Giovanni (“we’re at the opera, he’s a man who loves women too much and who’s going to end up in hell”) would have been immediately disqualifying in other times. But there, we smile and everything passes, charm and conviction. Like Yannick Nézet-Séguin, this musician stimulates a team around her. How was it necessary to gauge, judge, quantify the ten additional years of experience of the excellent Joanna Natalia Slusarczyk? The jury bet on the zest of candor and the brilliant talent.
The proofs can be viewed later on the Philharmonie de Paris website and the Arte Concerts YouTube channel.
Christophe Huss was the guest of the Philharmonie de Paris.